Biological Station launches campaign for its library furnishings

The Highlands Biological Station (HBS) is trying to raise money to buy furnishings for its newly renovated Reinke Library and Seminar Room. “We came to the end of our funding before we could purchase the furnishings,” said Sonya Carpenter, director of the Highlands Biological Foundation, which initiated the $15,000 campaign. The research center has already received a $2,500 donation from the Garden Club of America. The money will be used to purchase tables, chairs, lamps and other furnishings to give students a space where they can “feel comfortable to study and to communicate their findings,” Carpenter said. “We teach college level classes during the summer for college students from all over the United States and internationally. And we have a group of students who come primarily from [the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] to spend a semester in residence here in the fall. Biology students spend a lot of time in the classroom. We give them opportunities to do field work.”

The Reinke Library has a vast collection of scientific journals relevant to regional organisms and ecological systems. The library houses more than 100 master’s degree theses and doctoral dissertations based on work conducted at the HBS. “We feel the library and the laboratory are the heart of what we do here,” Carpenter said.

The storied research center, now owned by the University of North Carolina, was founded in 1927 and is also home to a nature center and a botanical garden.